For many red-carpet watchers this awards season, a big moment to cheer (and possibly the start of the #askhermore movement really taking off) was Julianne Moore spurning E!’s mani-cam at the SAG Awards. The mani-cam didn’t reappear at the Oscars, female nominees got asked in-depth questions about their roles and Moore ended up being able to put her manicure on full display when she took home an Oscar statuette of her own. Now, the star explains in April’s Harper’s Bazaar, she wasn’t trying to start a revolution — she was just being true to herself.
Camilla Akrans/Harper’s BAZAAR
“I’m 54 years old,” she says in the cover story. “I can’t make my fingers walk; it’s humiliating! And a guy asked me to lift up my skirt to show them my shoes, and I said, ‘I don’t need to do that. Let’s keep some dignity.’”
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But she does admit that the style element of the red carpet isn’t unimportant — after all, she worked with stylist Leslie Fremar to create some of 2015’s most memorable style moments, including the Chanel Haute Couture she won her Oscar in. “My style has gotten better, hopefully,” she says. “It’s like everything: practice makes perfect. There was one year when my kids were little, and every time I was photographed, I was wearing a pair of cargo shorts, a T-shirt and a bandanna. It was so bad, my publicist was like, ‘Get it together!’”
Camilla Akrans/Harper’s BAZAAR
Now she’s consistently on best-dressed lists, which isn’t without effort of its own. “We’d all be lying if we said we aren’t watching what we eat,” Moore says of her fellow nominees. “Of course we are! I think we’re also really stressed. I’m not a stress eater. I get nervous and I don’t eat. But, you know, I had a dress on the other day, and I said to my manager, ‘When you see my back fat sticking out, tuck it back in! Be a friend!’”
For more from the star, including which actresses she really admires and how fun it is to be part of the female sisterhood, pick up this month’s Harper’s Bazaar on March 24 or visit the site, and tell us: Are you glad actresses are saying no to the mani-cam? Do you like the #askhermore movement, or do you prefer to hear stars talk about their style on the red carpet?
–Alex Apatoff
